The following is a list of articles, books and essays of Metal music and culture. I do not claim that this list is comprehensive. I have excluded some articles and books that fall on the borderline between ‘serious’ and ‘non-serious’ journalism. Note that inclusion in this bibliography does not necessarily mean a recommendation of the work in question. Please check back periodically for updates to this list.

If you have any items (particularly PhD theses and non-English items) to add to this list, or you have corrections to make then please contact me.

I am indebted to Fabien Hein for alerting me to a number of these items. Together we published a version of this bibliography in Hein, F. and Kahn-Harris K. ‘Études Metal: Metal Studies: Une Bibliographe’ in Copyright Volume! 5/2 2006 19-32

An international academic conference on metal was held in Salzburg, Austria in November 2005. The abstracts and some of the papers can be found here (I have not catalogued the papers individually in the list).

I have created a separate list of German-language items at the foot of the bibliography. Thanks to Sebastian Berndt of Erfurt, Germany, for supplying much of the list (English comments on some entries are Berndt's - I don't speak German!).

Avelar, I. (2003) “Heavy Metal Music in Postdictatorial Brazil: Sepultura and the Coding of Nationality in Sound.” Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies 12 (3): 329-46.

Avelar, I. (2001) ‘Defeated Rallies, Mournful Anthems, and the Origins of Braziliian Heavy Metal.’ in C. Dunn and C. Peronne (eds) Brazilian Popular Music and Globalization. Gainsville: University of Florida Press.

Beckwith, K. (2002) ‘’Black Metal is for White People’: Constructs of Colour and Identity within the Extreme Metal Scene’, M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 5 (3),
http://www.media-culture.org.au/0207/blackmetal.php

Berger, H. and Fales C. in press. ‘’Heaviness’ in the Perception of Heavy Metal Guitar Timbres: The Match of Perceptual and Acoustic Features Over Time.’ in Greene and Porcello (eds) Wired for Sound: Engineering and Technologies in Sonic Cultures. Hannover, NH: Wesleyan University Press.

Brown, A.R. (2005) 'Metal Rules! The on-line participation of young metal fans in the deliberative rituals and public debates that constitute the global metal (post)subcultural scene'. Available at: http://www.youth-study.org.uk/

Hill, G. (2006) The Strange Sound of Cthulhu: Music Inspired by the Writings of H. P. Lovecraft. Self-published at http://www.lulu.com/content/379983 [contains chapters on influence of Lovecraft on metal]

Kelly, S. (2006)
'A Garage of One's Own: Heavy Metal as a Reinvention of Social Technology' in I. Peddie (ed)
The Resisting Muse: Popular Music and Social Protest. Ashgate

Klybchak, B. (2007)
Performed Identities : Heavy Metal Musicians Between 1984 and 1991. PhD thesis. Bowling Green Stae University. [a version of this was published in 2007 under the same title by VDM Verlag Dr. Mueller e.K.]

Phillipov, M. (2004) 'A Gateway to Annihilation?: Death Metal and the Reorientation of Listening' Paper presented at the CSAA Annual Conference, 'Everyday Transformations: The Twenty-First Century Quotidian', Freemantle, Western Australia.

Phillips, D. (1992) ‘Meddling in Metal Music.’ in K. Bindas (ed) Research in American Popular Music, pp 77-94.

United States Senate (1998) ‘Music Violence: How Does It Affect Our Children: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring, and the District of Columbia of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Fifth Congress, first session, November 6, 1997.’ Washington: U.S. G.P.O